1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to locking assemblies and, in particular, to a dual-hook locking assembly.
2. Description of the Prior Art
To keep pace with continuous advances in home building and in order to comply with the requirements to enhance the security of existing homes and flats, the need to develop new, improved locking assemblies became a pressing reality. Consequently, attempts have been made to develop compact and reliable dual-hook assemblies, which, in comparison with one hook locking assemblies, provide enhanced security. An example of such an attempt is U.S. Pat. No. 6,776,441, granted on Aug. 17, 2004 to Liu for a “Lock Assembly with Two Hook Devices”. This patent comprises a casing, a pivotable member rotatably mounted in the casing, two linking rods, each having a first and a second end, the first end being rotatably connected to the pivotable member, and two hook devices, each including a first hook member and a second hook member. Each second hook member is pivotally mounted in the casing. The second end of each linking rod is pivotally connected to an associated second hook member. Each hook member further includes a hooked second end that is passable through an associated opening of the casing. As can be seen, the described hook assembly uses between the driving component/pivotable member/and the driven component/second hooked end of each first hook member/a transmission structure consisting of links rods, and each second hook member is as pivotable member rotatably mounted in the casing. Hence, this assembly lacks compactness, while the use of an interposed transmission negatively affects the assembly's reliability. Another example is U.S. Pat. No. 7,040,671, granted on May 9, 2006 to Liu for a “Lock Assembly with Two Hook Devices”. This patent discloses a lock assembly including a casing, two pivotable members rotatably mounted in the casing and meshed with each other, two linking rods, and two hook devices, each including a hook member and a rocker arm that is pivotally mounted in the casing. Each hook member has a first end pivotally connected to an associated rocker arm and a hooked second end that is passable through an associated one of two openings of the casing. When either pivotable member is rotated, each rocker arm and each hook member are actuated such that the hooked second end of each hook member is moved between a retracted position in the casing and a locking position out of the casing. As can be inferred from the above description of U.S. Pat. No. 7,040,671, the components of the latter are basically common, except two pivotable members rotatably mounted in the casing and meshed with each other, with those described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,776,441. As a corollary of this similarity, it is obvious that the shortcomings of the latter patent, as stated above, also apply to U.S. Pat. No. 7,040,671.